The legal checks before you buy a home in Spain

A purchase on the Costa del Sol is checked in the same order every time, whatever the price. The checks are routine. A good lawyer runs through them in a week or two on a straightforward resale, and the private contract is signed once they are done. This guide sets out what each check is, what document answers it, and what a good answer looks like.

The checks are your lawyer’s job. My part is to know what the seller has to produce, to get it out of them, and to make sure nothing is signed before the lawyer is content. If you have not yet chosen a lawyer, the buying process guide explains where that fits.

1. Who owns it, and what is on it

The first document is the nota simple, an extract from the Land Registry (Registro de la Propiedad). It states who the registered owner is, how the property is described, its size as registered, and every charge against it. A charge can be a mortgage, an embargo for an unpaid debt, a right of way, or a condition from the original development.

A clean answer is a nota simple in the seller’s name, with no charges, or with a mortgage the seller will cancel at signing out of the price. The nota simple is ordered again on the day of the deed, so nothing can be added between the check and the signing.

If the seller is a company, or there are several owners, or the owner has died and the heirs are selling, the lawyer needs more. None of that is unusual. It just takes longer.

2. What the tax office thinks it is

The catastro is the national property register used for tax. It holds the plot, the built area, the year of construction and the cadastral value, which is the base for the annual IBI. The catastro description and the Land Registry description should match each other and match what is actually standing there.

Where they do not match, the usual reason is an extension or a pool added without the paperwork being updated. Sometimes that is a formality to tidy up. Sometimes it means the extension was never licensed, and that changes what you are buying. The lawyer compares the three, the registry, the catastro and the real building, and tells you which it is.

3. The building licence and the licence of first occupation

Every building needs a building licence (licencia de obras) and, once finished, a licence of first occupation (licencia de primera ocupación), the town hall’s statement that the building was completed as licensed and may be lived in. On a new build the developer must have it before the deed is signed, and a reputable one will not sign without it. On an older home the lawyer checks that it exists or that the town hall has issued the equivalent.

Where a home was built without a licence, or outside what the licence allowed, the question is its planning status. In Andalucía a long-standing irregular build can hold a declaration of assimilated out of ordination (AFO), which records that the town hall will not act against it and allows the utilities to be connected. It does not make it legal in the full sense, and it limits what you can do to the building later. A property sold with an AFO can be a sound purchase at the right price. It should never be a surprise.

Towns update their general plans from time to time, and what the plan says about a plot matters most on land that is not fully built up. Marbella approved a new general plan, the PGOM, in September 2026, the first full replacement of the plan it had been working from since 1986. For a home in a finished urbanisation that changes little. For a villa plot or a property with land around it, the lawyer checks what the plan allows.

4. The community, and what it owes

Most apartments and many houses belong to a community of owners. Before you commit, the lawyer asks for:

• The certificate of community debts (certificado de deudas), signed by the administrator and the president, confirming that the seller is up to date. Unpaid fees for the current year and the three before it can be claimed against the home, so this one is not optional.
• The last two years of accounts, so you can see what the community spends, what it holds in reserve, and whether a large bill is coming.
• The minutes of the last general meeting, which say what the owners are arguing about. A planned facade repair, a lift replacement or a dispute with a neighbour will all be here.
• The statutes and internal rules, which say what the community allows. Short-term letting, pets, works and the use of the terraces are the rules that matter most to buyers.

A good answer is a certificate showing nothing owed, accounts with a reserve, and minutes with nothing alarming. A special levy already voted is not a reason to walk away. It is a number to take off the price.

5. IBI, rubbish and the utilities

IBI is the annual property tax, charged by the town hall on the cadastral value. The lawyer asks for the last receipt and a certificate from the town hall that nothing is owed, because unpaid IBI can be claimed against the property. The receipt also tells you what the tax will cost you each year.

The same goes for the rubbish collection charge (basura) and, in some towns, a separate water account. The lawyer also checks the electricity and water contracts exist and are in the seller’s name, so they can be transferred to you rather than reconnected from scratch.

6. The energy certificate

Since 2013 a home sold in Spain must have an energy performance certificate (certificado de eficiencia energética), rated A to G. The seller provides it. Most older homes on the coast are E or F, which is normal and not a reason for concern. The certificate matters more for what it tells you about running costs and insulation than for the letter itself.

7. The building’s own inspection

A building over fifty years old is required to have had an inspection of its technical condition (the IEE in Andalucía, the ITE elsewhere), covering the structure, the facade, the roof and the services. The lawyer checks that the inspection was done and what it found. On a building of that age this is the document that says whether a large bill is coming for the whole community.

8. Who is living there

The home should be handed over empty unless you are buying with a tenant in place. The lawyer checks for a tenancy, for anyone registered at the address, and for any sign that the seller cannot give vacant possession on the day. On a home that has been let, the deed states that it is delivered free of occupants. The guide to the rules on occupation explains the law and why a home with a proper deed and a lived-in look is not the risk the headlines suggest.

9. On a new build, two more

Buying off plan adds two checks of its own. Every payment you make before completion must be covered by a bank guarantee or insurance policy, which returns your money if the home is not delivered. And the finished building carries ten-year structural insurance (seguro decenal), which the developer must have in place before the deed is signed. Buying off plan in Spain covers both in detail.

10. If you plan to let it

If you intend to rent the home out for short stays, the planning status and the community rules decide whether you can. Andalucía requires every tourist let to be registered, and since 2025 a community of owners can block new ones by a three-fifths vote. Check this before you commit, not after. The tourist licence guide has the current rules.

What the checks produce

At the end of them your lawyer tells you one of three things. The property is clean and you can sign. The property has an issue that can be fixed before the deed or settled from the price, and here is what it costs. Or the property has an issue that cannot be fixed, and you should not buy it. All three are good outcomes, because all three happen before your money is committed.

Where I come in

I do not replace the lawyer. I make the lawyer’s job quicker. I know what the seller’s agent has to produce and I ask for it at the first viewing rather than after the reservation. I check the home against the catastro before you fly, so a missing licence shows up before the trip rather than after it. And I sit in the room at the signing. If you want to talk through a property you have found, or how I would run the search, book a call.

Common questions